10 posts categorized "Petra Kvitova"

August 12, 2011

So yeah. Basically, if you've ever won a Grand Slam and your name doesn't rhyme with "Movak" or "Terena", Canada wants absolutely nothing to do with you. They're all about equality and parity and shit, and basically they would like to treat their prize money like welfare. Um, that's fine? I guess? Not really.

It's almost (I'm being nice by using "almost" here) comical how ridiculous Toronto and Montreal have been this week. Andy Murray, being the amazing trendsetter that he is, kicked it off by losing rather pathetically on Monday, and he's been holding the door for everyone else since. Caroline, Kim, Vera, Petra, Frank, Masha, Rafa, Roger, Ana, JJ, Delpo, blah blah blah. All gone before you could say "poutine" (you should never say "poutine" because (a) it sounds dirty and (b) it is gross sorry).

Meanwhile, there have been lightbulbs falling from the sky, power outages that oddly, don't stop play but require Lynn Welch to scream and go horse (not cool!), Windows 95 failures (at least upgrade to XP, you guys), rain delays, crazy wind, and basically everything described in the book of Revelation except locusts. It's only a matter of time though. Locusts fucking love poutine. Look it up. It's science.

July 20, 2011

Petra, Petra, Petra. Your hossyness over the course of Wimbledon could not be denied. Sure, we all knew you had talent, but it wasn't until I sat courtside as you dismantled Wicky, *actually* forcing her to break out in a "Well if you're going to play like that I got nothing" smile, that I truly believed. Your game is like nothing else out there.

How great was it to see the overwhelmingly positive reaction to Petra's win? This seemed like a signal of things to come, and while everyone was waiting for Vika and Woz to be the ones to break through for Generation Next, it was Petra, the relative unknown (I mean that from a casual fan perspective) who absolutely demolished the field and signaled a new kind of game that felt unique and exciting. Let's face it, it felt a hell of a lot like DelPo's run at the USO in 2009. The woman puts her head down and grinds, she's charming in a refreshingly understated way, and what she lacks in shyness she makes up for in one of the biggest games currently on tour. Heck, given current form it is THE biggest game on tour. She can hit winners from any position, she's greatly improved on her movement, and HOLY SHIT SHE DOESN'T MIND COMING TO THE NET.

WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS AND CAN I HAVE MORE PLEASE.

It was a great tournament for the oft-forgotten members of Generation New (yeah, I'm trying out different names). Not only did Petra break through but Sabine. OH SABINE! There has not been a day that has gone by since you crippling injuries that I didn't wonder what the tennis landscape would have looked like with you in the mix. Another kid with an impossibly big game, her run to the semis was inspired. That win over Nails and how she took care of business in her matches after that was such a great show of class from a kid who constantly looked like she was just happy to be playing tennis again. That kind of joy is, unfortunately, rare and it was refreshing. Unfortunately she played her one bad match when it really mattered, getting dismantled by Masha in the semis. But from a personal perspective, it was so fun to follow her through the grass court season, first in Birmingham and then at SW19.

I can't wait to see if these two can carry their momentum through to the US hard court season. They're two likeable women with games that are fantastically fun to watch.

July 07, 2011

Nice to know that Robbo watches the tennis the same way most tennis nerds do: Smart phone in hand.

Celebrities. They're just like us!

All the women who're independent, throw your hands up at me.All the honeys who makin' money, throw you hands up at me.All the mommas who profit dollars, throw your hands up at me.All the ladies who truly feel me, throw your hands up at me.

May 30, 2011

Almost everyone I've spoken this week has been talking about Petra Kvitova. "She's got the game and the draw to win this." Now, I think Petra is very very very good. I think she's capable of beating anyone on any given day. I do think that she can win a Slam.

But I also think she's 21 years old and has major consistency issues. I mean, she won Madrid and then lost a week later to Rybarikova in the finals of Prague, a $50k ITF tournament. That raises questions to me as to (1) whether she can sustain her game over two weeks and seven matches, and (2) whether she can deal with the pressure (ITF or not, it's still a final in your home country).

Big games are big games. The bigger they are the harder they fall. We see that with players like Sam, Sveta, Ana, Masha, etc. When they're good they're very good, and when they're bad they are tragic. That's what happened to Petra today. Coming out on court with some kinesio tape on her shoulder, Petra struggled all day with getting the ball in the court. And we're not talking missing by centimeters. We're talking feet. Meters. I think one of her forehands hit the Eiffel Tower and another one landed in London.

Nails wasn't that great either. But she showed some veteran grit after going down 0-3 in the third by reeling off six straight games. Apparently her husband left the court after she dug herself a hole. He should leave more often. The threat of no credit card nearby is clearly a motivator.

“Even myself, I didn’t believe I can come back, you know, because she has a huge big serve. I don’t know what happened. Maybe just my husband left and I can win six games in a row.”

More Nails press conferences please! Even though we won't get to read them. Pffft.

This wasn't a great match to watch, but I'm super happy for Nails. She's now made the quarterfinals of all four Slams and is the first Chinese woman into the quarters of RG. That's quite something for someone so injury-prone and who seems to be blossoming later in her career.

She said in her press conference that she doesn't like the clay. I'm not sure if that matters, honey. It sure does like you.

February 15, 2011

There was a tournament in Paris last week. Kim clinched in the #1 ranking (which Caro can reclinch this week with a SF run in Dubai -- so calm down journos hailing "order restored" and all that bullshit) and Petra then beat her in the final and will reach a career-high ranking of #14. The tournament was so pissed they wouldn't even let Petra keep the free racquet that comes with the trophy. These are all true things. Kinda.

But the only thing that matters whenever Paris rolls around is Momo picspam. The woman wears retirement well.

January 22, 2011

All through the day I was getting shit via Twitter and email that I was being a total Debbie Downer regarding Sam. That I was being one of those pessimistic fans who just talks down their faves' chances in order to insulate themselves from disappointment. I'm not saying I don't do that. But I definitely wasn't in this case.

Sometimes it's just about the matchups. Rankings, past performance, history, it all goes out the window. It doesn't matter that Sam's ranked #5 and Petra's ranked #28. It doesn't matter that Sam was an RG finalist and Petra was a Wimbledon semifinalist. And it didn't even really matter that Sam had an ok leadup while Petra won Brisbane.

To me, what mattered was that Petra was a tall, flat-hitting, left-handed Czech who could clock the ball. Her height would neutralize the kicker and the forehand, forcing Sam to hit more flat serves, which she would be more inclined to miss. Her flat-hitting would expose Sam's movement issues. And her left-handedness would make it easier for her serve to get to the Stosur backhand. Even if Sam played well, I just didn't see this being a straightforward match at all. As Sam Smith observed, there were a lot of potholes for Sam in this match.

Sam didn't play poorly. She actually played pretty well. But just like the RG10 final, her opponent never shirked in the moment and she was playing as well as I have ever seen her play. Sometimes there's not much you can do about that. Sam definitely had her chances. She led 3-0 in the first set breaker and 5-3 later. But as it happens in tight matches, the whole thing can turn on its head with a missed first serve, or a decision to go cross court as opposed to down the line. A backhand here, a forehand there, and next thing you know, you can count on one hand the shots that just didn't go your way.

I made a bet with Matt Cronin that Sam would hit more than 5 backhand winners in the match. She hit 2. I think I'm more annoyed that I lost the bet. Then again, if I had won the bet I'm pretty sure Sam would still be in the tournament. In otherwords, it was a really dumb bet.

Sam was clearly disappointed but, as always, had some perspective:

Yeah, I'm obviously very disappointed to not win. But I actually thought I played really well so... It's hard to walk off the court thinking you played well. It was so close, I mean, that first set.

Don't really know how I lost it, to be honest. Felt like I started playing a bit better and was probably on top of her and then all of a sudden it was gone and I was a set down. I thought she played extremely well pretty much the whole way through.

She really really did. I sat there racking my brain, trying to figure out what she should differently in the match, but my limited tennis brain couldn't come up with much. Slicing more seemed to be effective but Petra started to read that pretty well and got up to the ball quickly. Drop shotting? The kid has dropped some kilos and her improved movement showed. Petra's tennis was just better than Sam's tonight. You gotta tip your visor and your cap (Sam wore both) to the kid.

I think I did everything right leading into the tournament, during the tournament, and I can't say that, you know, I didn't do this or that or was disappointed in how I handled that or any of it. You know, from this time a year ago I think I've played a lot better, handled myself a lot better and everything else, but I lost a round earlier. What do you do? That's sport, I guess.

July 01, 2010

And so it goes. Serena weathered the storm and finished up Petra to keep her defending campaign going and save NBC from swearing off tennis forever. So...thanks?

Nice run, Petra. I've never been a fan but I've always been scared whenever you play one of my faves. The flat groundies and big serve concern me in a Kleybs/Kaia kind of way. I wish I could get on your train but I simply cannot abide that chihuahua-yelp. I mean, really, what the fuck is that?

February 06, 2010

This tie is a difficult one to get into. I'd expect the Czechs to come out on top, but who knows when you're relying on Lucie for anything. They're 1-1 going into Day 2, with Petra and ALG coming out on top.